1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hard disk drive assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Hard disk drives typically have an actuator arm which can move relative to a magnetic disk that is rotated by an electric motor. At the end of the actuator arm is a magnetic head which can magnetize or sense the magnetic field of the disk. The magnetic head is typically separated from the surface of the disk by an air gap that is on the order of 0.06 microns in length. Any contact between the head and the magnetic disk may result in a loss of data or possible damage to the disk.
It has become desirable to construct hard disk drives as portable pluggable card units which can be connected to a computer. Because portable card units are frequently handled by the user, the drive units are susceptible to external shock loads which may damage the actuator arm assembly of the disk drive. It would therefore be desirable to have a latch assembly which locks the actuator arm of a portable disk drive when the card unit is detached from the computer, and which allows the arm to freely rotate when plugged into the computer. To simplify usage of the card size drive unit, it would also be desirable to have an actuator locking mechanism that self-engages when detached from the computer.